This invention relates generally to machines and methods for breaking the necks of poultry, and particularly to methods and machines for breaking the necks of fowl being conveyed along a conveyor line in an inverted position for processing.
In the commercial processing of poultry today fowls are suspended in inverted positions from shackles successively connected to a conveyor line which line is passed through a series of process stations. At one of these stations an incision is typically made in the skin of the neck of each fowl and the neck bone broken and separated. The windpipe, esophagus, and crop are then pulled out through the incision. Heretofore, neck breaking and cutting operations have been effected manually through the use of shears and the like. This manual procedure has proven tedious, lacking in uniformity of results, and expensive.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide improved methods of breaking the necks of fowls being conveyed along a conveyor line in an inverted position for processing.
Another general object of the invention is to provide machines for breaking the necks of fowls being conveyed along a conveyor line in an inverted position for processing.
Another object of the invention is to provide methods and machines for simultaneously breaking the necks of fowls of a group being conveyed along a conveyor line.
Another object of the invention is to provide methods and machines for breaking the necks of fowls being conveyed along a conveyor line automatically and without the need for momentarily arresting or otherwise altering the speed of the conveyor line itself.
Another object of the invention is to provide methods and machines for breaking the necks of fowls and for simultaneously making an incision in the skin of the fowls through which the windpipe, esophagus, and crop may subsequently be extracted.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide improved methods and machines for breaking the necks of fowls being conveyed along a conveyor line and which includes method steps and apparatus for guiding the necks of the fowls into position for neck breaking and cutting operations.